


Exy is for Androids

by AidenAurelio



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Androids, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cyborgs, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Rating: M, Relationship(s), Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 17:01:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20492201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AidenAurelio/pseuds/AidenAurelio
Summary: In a world where Exy is a brutal sport meant for Androids who are nearly indistinguishable from human beings to all but rip each other limb from limb, being the only human being on the court is damn near suicide. That's why Neal had to hide the fact that he is a modified cyborg running away from his science dad who wants to shut him down for the special biometric core his mother used to keep him alive. How will the Foxes react when the FBI allow Neil his 20 minute visit and he finally spills the whole truth?





	Exy is for Androids

**Author's Note:**

> I know next to nothing about science or machines so forgive the ridiculous psudoscience. 
> 
> Also, this is literally just me rewriting my favorite chapter and replacing all the explanations with stuff about robots. Hardly anything changed, so it's not even half original. Just me indulging my own whims.
> 
> I hope you enjoy nevertheless.

The leather seat felt too hard against fresh wounds, and the heat from the sun still warmed them to near painful even if the windows were tinted and thick enough that there was no way they weren't bulletproof. Neil pressed his lips together, and winced at the way the swollen and cracked flesh protested. Each time they throbbed it reminded him of his traumas, and briefly he wished he could have at least spared the time to disable his nerve functions temporarily… that was, until he recalled the feel of Andrew's body against his that night at the club. Maybe… it was worth it to feel the pain now, as long as he could feel THAT again. Even just once more.

Nathaniel expected to be carted straight to the agents' office for questioning, but the SUV they were carting him in slowed, then turned into a hotel parking lot. As Neil glanced around, he let his mechanical eyes zoom in and count each person who was so obviously out of place, only wincing slightly at the feel of the parts whirring inside his eyeball, reminding him of his artificial parts as they relayed information through his human ones. The place was crawling with feds. Men stood on the sidewalk smoking and attempting to look casual, but Neil's skin crawled at the sight of them, the sensation having nothing to do with the mechanical additions under his skin. The ladies sunning by the pool were equally offensive despite their attempt to be inconspicuous. The woman by the vending machine was a toss-up, but Nathaniel was inclined to think badly of everyone in his sights, especially as the database overlaid information and data sheets on top of his vision, telling him any information a facial recognition system could allow. He didn't doubt that every single one was false. As soon as the car stopped Neil turned an expectant look on Browning, forcing his eyes to zoom out and return to normal, seeing only the agent in front of him with no special overlays. It wouldn't do any good, anyways. He had already tried to look up his information when he first woke to find the man at his bedside. Browning put a finger in his face. 

"You have twenty minutes or until they throw you out of their lives, whichever comes first. Then you are coming with us and you are going to tell us everything we want to know. Do I make myself clear?"

"They," Nathaniel said, feeling his mind racing to catch up. "They're here? I don't see the bus." Just to make sure he looked around again, twisting in his seat until he felt the twinge of pain again.

"I don't want the press seeing it here and putting it all together yet, so I had your coach move it. I said, are we clear?" Browning asked, reaching over to get his attention again.

"Clear," Neil said, and pulled the hood down over his face again. "Let me out." 

"Your winning personality makes me rethink this entire thing," Browning said, but he got out, moving around the armored vehicle to unlock and open up the door for Neil, nodding to his partner along the way. They took him up rickety metal stairs to the second floor. A woman lounged against the balcony railing with a cellphone to her ear and Neil read her information instinctively. Fake, of course.

She pushed her hair over her shoulder and flicked her fingers in the same move. Browning guided Nathaniel to the appropriate door and knocked. The door opened half a foot, but Nathaniel couldn't see anything past a hefty suited body. The man standing guard scowled down at Nathaniel before turning an annoyed look on Browning. "I don't like it."

"Noted. Watch him a moment, Kurt," Browning said. Kurt stepped aside and pulled the door open. Browning strode past him, clapping as he went to get everyone's attention. Even on the balcony he was loud enough for Nathaniel to hear every word. 

"Listen up, people. You've got twenty minutes. Let's keep this orderly and have only one person up at a time." Kurt obviously expected the Foxes to submit without a fight, because he dropped his arm and let Neil step through. He should have waited a bit longer, though, as Neil's teammates started arguing almost immediately. Dan's outraged voice carried the easiest when she snapped, 

"Twenty minutes? You've got to be joking. Why do—oh my god," she broke off when Neil stepped into the room. The rush in her voice wasn't anger or disgust, but terror-fueled relief. Briefly, Neil wondered if the agents found it outputting for a purely mechanical thing to make such a human sound. "Oh my god, Neil. Are you okay?" 

Neil opened his mouth, but words failed him. Last night he knew he'd never see any of them again, human or machine. Having them back was a salve on every one of his aching wounds, but he was keenly aware he was just here for goodbye. It would kill him to walk out of here. He owed them explanations and apologies, but he didn't know where to start. All he could do was look from one stunned face to another. 

There was a hollow look on Kevin's face and dark green bruises on his throat. Nicky was a disconsolate mess near the window. Allison and Renee sat on the far bed with two black eyes and a couple dozen bruises between them and the spots on Allison's arm were obviously left by fingers that held too tightly and damaged the muscle mesh under her synthetic skin. Nathaniel hoped Allison beat up whoever was stupid enough to grab her so hard, but maybe Renee had handled that for her. 

One of Renee's hands was bandaged and she wore a brace on her other wrist. Aaron sat halfway down on the same bed closest to the barge charging docking station, and for once even he looked more upset than angry when he looked at Neil, his fingers still clasped tightly around the charger he had just unplugged from the back of his neck. Matt and Dan were on the nearer bed. Matt had a white-knuckled grip on Dan's shoulder like he'd had to stop her from charging Browning. Matt had taken a severe beating in the riot and still had ice packs strapped to both hands. His shirt was filthy and torn in two places, and Neil could see ugly bruises through the gaps, as well as a few places where he thought he saw down to the mesh itself. He hoped at least they could shut off their pain receptors until they were healed. 

Abby stood between the beds, her tool kit open on the blankets near Matt's right hip, but she dropped the skin mesh repair spray she was holding when she saw Neil- no, Nathaniel. Abby's mouth moved, but Nathaniel didn't hear a word she said. Browning said the Foxes only suffered minor injuries and that none of them had ended up in the shop, but only seven of them were here. Wymack was out moving the bus, but that left one person unaccounted for. 

Nathaniel's blood went cold, and he couldn't keep the alarm from his voice when he started to ask, "Where's And—" There was a crash behind Nathaniel, the unmistakable sound of a body slamming into wood. He turned as Andrew forced his way into the room with Wymack right on his heels. 

Kurt grabbed at Andrew but lost his grip when Wymack shouldered past him, a human guard between the agent and his precious android charge. Nathaniel had only a second to see the handcuffs locking Andrew and Wymack together, and then Browning reacted to the violent entrance by reaching for his gun. Reacting to the immediate danger faster than any normal human body would have allowed him, Nathaniel grabbed Browning's arm with both hands and yanked as hard as he could. He only meant to slow Browning down and pull him off-balance, but the agony that shot from Nathaniel's fingertips to his elbows almost took him off his feet. He let go without meaning to and hunched over like that would somehow make the pain go away. Crushing his hands to his stomach didn't help, but Nathaniel needed to shield them somehow. 

"Don't," he said through clenched teeth. He thought he said it, anyway; he couldn't hear himself through the white noise roaring in his ears, and his lips were still too sore to tell if they hurt from stretching around words or just because they were still attached to his face. All he could hope for was that his voice commands had been sent through to the proper nerves by way of the more efficient nanites speeding through his veins. 

The weight of a hand on the back of his neck just over his useless charging port said he'd bought Andrew enough time to reach him, at least, and a shaky breath passed between his still throbbing lips, letting in the salty sweet tang of nanite infused blood. Nathaniel didn't remember closing his eyes, but he forced them open again. He tried straightening, but Andrew caught his shoulder and shoved him to his knees. Nathaniel went without argument and cradled his wrecked hands in his lap. His hands felt so terrible he expected to see deep green blood soaking through his bandages, but the gauze stayed white and clean. 

"Leave it," Wymack said. He sounded so angry Nathaniel knew Wymack wasn't talking to him or Andrew. He guessed Browning or Kurt was moving to haul Andrew out of the way before he hurt Nathaniel further. Either the feds trusted his judgment or they couldn't get around Wymack to get to Andrew, but Andrew knelt in front of Nathaniel unchallenged. Nathaniel turned his hands over and looked up. Andrew's expression was deceptively calm, but there was iron in his grip when he seized Nathaniel's chin. 

Nathaniel let him look his fill because it gave him time to study the bruises lining Andrew's face as well and allowed his eyes to zoom and track and analyze as much as they pleased. The worst of the lot was a dark, narrow streak running down over his cheekbone from the corner of his right eye. The force of impact left half of Andrew's eye green with nanite fusion. An elbow, Nathaniel thought, that had come way too close. 

"They could have blinded you," Nathaniel said. "All that time fighting and you never learned how to duck? Do you have any idea how expensive it is to replace eyes?" A stony stare was his only answer. Andrew let go of him so he could tug Nathaniel's hood out of the way. He dragged a finger along the lines of tape keeping the myriad of bandages in place as if looking for the best place to start. He tore the gauze off Nathaniel's right cheek first, exposing the striped lines left by Lola's knife, deep enough to break through the mesh and into deep muscle. He favored the stitches with a cursory glance before moving on. The tape on Nathaniel's other cheek hurt like hell coming off, since it pulled the skin around his burns and the still exposed fiber infused mesh that enhanced the human muscles still moving Neil's hybrid form, and Andrew froze with his hand a few scant inches from Nathaniel's face. 

Andrew's expression didn't change, but there was a new tension in his shoulders that didn't bode well for anyone in the room. Andrew had dropped the first bandages as useless, but these ones he slowly set on the floor by his knee without taking his stare off Nathaniel's face. Since Nathaniel was kneeling with his back to the room, Wymack was the only other person who could see the mess Lola made of his face. 

Nathaniel didn't dare look up at him, but Wymack's fierce, "Christ, Neil," said the burns looked as bad as they felt. Maybe worse, since they showed both human and mechanical danage. A bed creaked as one of the Foxes got up. Wymack jerked his free hand in an emphatic order to stay put and said, "Don't." 

"One at a time," Browning reminded them. Andrew pressed two fingers to the underside of Nathaniel's chin to turn his head. Nathaniel let himself be guided and said nothing while Andrew looked his fill. He knew it must be strange to see evidence of what he must already have suspected right in front of him. 

When Andrew dropped his hand and clenched it in Nathaniel's hoodie, Nathaniel risked looking back at him. There was violence in Andrew's eyes, but at least he hadn't shoved Nathaniel away yet. That had to count for something. "I'm sorry," Nathaniel said. 

Andrew's fist went back, but he didn't take the swing. Nathaniel knew it wasn't because that was the hand cuffed to Wymack; Andrew's arm actually shook with the effort it took to not knock Nathaniel's head off his neck, evidencing the challenge his greyed neural connections and faulty harddrive. Nathaniel said nothing to tip the balance either way. At length Andrew uncurled his fingers and let his hand hang limp from the cuff. "Say it again and I will kill you," he said. 

"This is the last time I'm going to say it to you," Kurt said, coming up beside Wymack with a dark look on his face. "If you can't stow that attitude and behave—" 

Nathaniel shot a warning look at him and cut in with, "You'll what, asshole?" 

"The same goes for you, Nathaniel," Browning said. "That's your second strike. A third misstep and this," he twirled his finger to indicate the Foxes, "is over. Remember you are only here because we are allowing it." 

Andrew shifted as if to get up and Nathaniel knew he was going to shut Browning up for good. Nathaniel knew better than to touch Andrew yet but he got as close as he could and framed Andrew's face between his bandaged hands. Andrew could have easily pushed him aside, but after a short pause he got settled again. Nathaniel flicked him a quick look, grateful for that compliance, before leveling another icy stare at Browning. 

"Don't lie to a liar," Nathaniel said. "We both know I'm here because you have nothing without me. A pile of dead bodies can't close cases or play the money trail with you. I told you what those answers would cost you and you agreed to pay it. So deactivate the electronic key and take this handcuff off of Andrew, get your man out of our way, and stop using up my twenty minutes with your useless posturing." 

The silence that followed was brittle. Browning was weighing his options, or at least acting like he was. Nathaniel knew this could only end one way. If the FBI had let the Hatfords into the country uncontested they had to be desperate for some resolution. No one could prove—yet—that Nathan had killed Mary Hatford, but the Hatfords' hatred for Nathan wasn't a secret and they'd reacted to his parole by booking tickets across the Atlantic. It didn't take the FBI's brightest to know their visit wouldn't be friendly. Finally Browning gestured. Kurt's face was a thundercloud as he dug his small palm sized tablet out of his pocket and started typing out the deactivation code. Wymack turned to make it easier for him. Andrew didn't watch as the cuff came off, but he flexed his fingers a few times to test his freedom and dropped his hand to his thigh. 

Browning took Kurt with him to wait just inside the door. They radiated displeasure and distrust and the look Browning sent his watch was pointed, but Nathaniel didn't care. They both knew he could keep perfect track of the time. Satisfied they were out of the way at last, he turned his full attention on Andrew again.

"So the attitude problem wasn't an act, at least," Andrew said. 

"I was going to tell you," Nathaniel said. 

"Stop lying to me." Andrew demanded, and Noel felt his lips twitch in an almost human response.

"I'm not lying. I would have told you last night, but they were in our locker room." 

"They who?" Browning asked. Nathaniel switched to German without missing a beat. He was pretty sure he earned a dirty look from Browning for that trick, but he wouldn't take his eyes off Andrew to look. 

"Those weren't security guards that came for us. They were scientists, there for me, and they would have hurt all of you to get me out of there. I thought by keeping my mouth shut I could keep you safe." Nathaniel still had his hands up by Andrew's face, so he lightly tapped a thumb against the bruise at Andrew's eye. "I didn't know they'd staged a riot." 

"What did I tell you about playing the martyr card?" Andrew asked. 

"You said no one wanted it," Nathaniel said. "You didn't tell me to stop." 

"It was implied." 

"I'm stupid, remember? I need things spelled out." 

"Shut up." 

"Am I at ninety-four yet?" 

"You are at one hundred," Andrew said. "What happened to your face?" Nathaniel swallowed hard against a rush of nausea. 

"A dashboard lighter." He winced at the awful sound Nicky made. Even to an android, fire could burn and since and destroy. The groan of a quickly-shifting mattress almost swallowed up Aaron's ragged curse. Nathaniel looked back without thinking, needing to see who was on the move, and saw Aaron had rolled off the bed to go stand with Nicky. Turning meant the others got a look at his burned cheek and the exposed mesh beneath. Kevin recoiled so hard he slammed into the wall behind him. To and android, exposed insides meant severe malfunction- meant a trip to the shop. Deactivation. He clapped a protective hand over his own tattoo and Nathaniel knew he was imagining Riko's reaction to this atrocity. 

This time it was Dan stopping Matt from getting up, her knuckles white against his dark shirt and her head turned away. Matt started to fight free but settled for a hoarse, "Jesus, Neil. The fuck did they do to you?" Abby had kept her distance long enough, it seemed. 

She came around the bed, wide-eyed and frantic, but only made it to the corner before Andrew realized her intentions. He caught hold of Nathaniel to turn his face forward again and shot Abby a look so vicious she stopped in her tracks. 

"Get away from us," Andrew said. 

"Andrew," Abby said, quiet and careful. "He's hurt. Let me see him."

"If you make me repeat myself you will not live to regret it." Nathaniel had never heard that murderous tone from him. It made his hair stand on end but somehow eased some of the lava in his chest. It was Nathaniel's fault Andrew's self-control was in shreds, but it was also for his sake. Andrew's bottomless rage would never hurt Nathaniel, and that made all the difference in the world. Nathaniel gave Andrew's hair a cautious tug. Andrew resisted the first two attempts but finally let Nathaniel drag his attention back where it needed to be. 

"Abby, I just got out of the hospital," Nathaniel said without looking away from Andrew. "I'm as good as I can be right now." 

"Neil," Abby tried. 

"Please," Nathaniel stressed. He didn't hear her step back but he knew she did by the way Andrew's death grip on his skull relaxed. Nathaniel kept one hand buried in Andrew's hair but finally lowered the other. In quiet German he said, "Did they tell you who I am? What… what I am?"

"They didn't have to. I choked the answers out of Kevin on the way here." Andrew ignored the way Nathaniel gaped at him and said, "Guess you weren't an orphan after all. Where is the Butcher now?" 

"My uncle executed him," Nathaniel said, wondering. He crossed a precarious line and pressed two fingers to Andrew's chest over his heart. The memory chilled him to the bone, and he couldn't suppress all of a shudder from his half human body. "I spent my whole life wishing he would die, but I thought he never would. I thought he was invincible. More immortal than even the toughest android. I can't believe it was that easy." 

"Was it easy?" Andrew asked. "Kevin told us who he worked for." Nathaniel didn't think either agent could understand them, but names were hard to disguise in any language. He was glad Andrew was smart enough to not say the Moriyamas' name aloud.

"My uncle said he was going to them to try and negotiate a ceasefire. I don't know if he's strong enough to bargain with them, but I'd like to think he wouldn't have risked it without real ground to stand on. Promise me no one's told the FBI about them." 

"No one's said a word to them since they said we couldn't see you." Nathaniel's heart skipped a beat. The heat that gnawed at his chest was an ugly mix of gratitude and shame. They knew Nathaniel wasn't an android, and they understood that he was just half a human, playing a game made for machines… and yet... He tried to speak but had to clear his throat before trying again. 

"But why? I've done nothing but lie to them. I willingly put them all in danger so I could play a little longer. They got hurt last night because of me. I'm not even… android… Why would they protect me now?" 

"You are a Fox," Andrew said, like it was that simple, and maybe it was. Nathaniel dropped his eyes and worked his jaw, fighting for a center he was quickly losing hold of. He barely recognized his own voice when he said, 

"Andrew, they want to take me away from here. They want to send me to a research facility to study my core and keep me safe so my father's people can't find me- can't dissect me for the core and find out how it integrated into my human system. I don't want—" he started, but that wasn't fair. "If you tell me to leave, I'll go." He didn't say it would kill him, but he didn't have to. 

Andrew hooked his fingers in the collar of Nathaniel's sweatshirt and tugged just enough for him to feel it. For a moment Nathaniel was months away from this moment, standing in the darkened front hall of Andrew's house for the first time with a warm key digging into his palm, the low electronic hum of its activation vibrating through his half human hands. It felt like coming home, and it was enough to take the edge off his fear. 

"You aren't going anywhere," Andrew said: the same words, the same promise. He was speaking in English again, and Nathaniel understood why when he heard Andrew's next words. Andrew was playing instigator and inviting the Foxes to the fight. "You're staying with us. If they try to take you away they will lose."

"Take you away," Dan echoed. "To where?" 

"Are we talking about 'away for some questioning' or 'away for good'?" Matt demanded. 

"Both," Browning said. 

"You can't have him," Nicky said. "He belongs with us." 

"When people find out he is still alive they will come for him- for his core," Browning said. "It is not safe for him here anymore, and it sure as hell isn't safe for you. It is better for everyone if he disappears." They understood better than he ever would, since Kevin had already told them of the Wesninski-Moriyama scientific alliance. They'd been dealing with Riko's madness for a year now thanks to Kevin, and they looked wholly unimpressed by Browning's warnings. 

"What part of 'go to hell' do you need us to explain to you?" Allison asked. 

"We're all legal adults here," Matt added. "We've made our decision. Unless he wants to stay with you, you'd better bring Neil back to us when you're done with all your questions." 

"'Neil' isn't a real person," Browning said, fed up with their willful ignorance. "Hes not a human, and he damn sure isn't fully android either. He's something in between, a hybrid with mechanical parts keeping his flesh from rotting off his wire frame. It's just a cover that let Nathaniel evade the scientists and patents for his parts. It's past time to let him go." 

"Neil or Nathaniel or whoever," Nicky said. "He's ours, and we're not letting him go. You want us to vote on it or something? Bet you it'll be unanimous." 

"Coach Wymack, talk some sense into your team. A cyborg can't stay with androids," Browning said. 

"Neil," Wymack said, and Nathaniel lifted his stare to look over Andrew at Wymack. Nathaniel had seen that look on his face only once before, when Wymack tried putting him back together after Christmas. It was the look of a man made ancient by his players' tragedies; it was the look of a man who'd have their backs no matter what it cost him- no matter how many spare parts he had to scrounge up to piece them back together. It was the look that said he knew they were more than just machines with autonomy built to play a game that tested their upgrades and rip out their opponent's wires. He knew they were people. He knew they had souls. And that because of those souls, they bore the human burden. Nathaniel felt wretched for causing that expression again but was infinitely comforted by Wymack's unhesitating support. "Talk to me. What do you want?" 

Nathaniel swallowed hard against an unexpected lump in his throat, reminding him that what the agent said was true. His words came out so jagged they all had to go quiet to understand him. "I want—I know I shouldn't stay, that I shouldn't pretend to be an android, but I can't—I don't want to lose this. I don't want to lose any of you. I don't want to be Nathaniel anymore. I want to be Neil for as long as I can… I've felt more human with you guys than I ever did before my mom put a mechanical core in place of my heart." 

"Good," Wymack said. "I'd have a hell of a time fitting 'Wesninski' on a jersey." 

Browning rubbed at his temples. "I would like a word with you." 

"About?" 

"Your willingness to put your players in considerable danger, for one. These androids have professional contracts and legal autonomy but Nathaniel is something else entirely. It's one thing to sign another android to your team but there's a reason humans have never played Exy," hissed the agent.

"Giving up on Neil now goes against everything we are," Wymack said. "I'm game to argue with you about his autonomy and contract for as long as it takes, but not if it means using up Neil's allotted time. That's not fair to any of them."

Andrew tugged Nathaniel's hoodie and said in German, "Get rid of them before I kill them." 

"They're waiting for answers," Nathaniel said. "They were never able to charge my father while he was alive. They're hoping I know enough to start decimating his circle of rogue mechanics and scientists in his absence. I'm going to give them the truth, or as much of it as I can without telling them my father was acting on someone's orders. Do you want to be there for it? It's the story I should have given you months ago." 

"I have to go," Andrew said, and Neil's mechanical core whirred quietly. "I don't trust them to give you back." Andrew let go of him and got to his feet. 

Nathaniel got up without his help and looked past Andrew to Wymack. "I'm sorry," he said in English. "I should have told you, but I couldn't." 

"Don't worry about that right now," Wymack said. "Twenty minutes isn't near long enough for this conversation. We can talk about it on the ride back to campus, right?"

"Yes," Nathaniel said. "I promise. I just have to talk to them first." 

"Then go," Dan said. When Nathaniel looked back at her, she stressed, "But come back to us as soon as they're done with you, okay? We'll figure this out as a team." 

"As a family." Nicky attempted a smile. It was weak, but it was encouraging. This had to be a cruel dream. Their forgiveness threatened to burn Nathaniel up from the inside-out, as healing as it was damning. He didn't deserve their friendship or their trust. He'd never be able to repay them for rallying behind him like this. He could try the rest of his life, however long it was going to be now that Stuart was in the picture and Nathan was out, and he'd always fall short. 

"Thank you," he said. Allison waved his thanks off with an airiness that didn't match her tense expression. 

"No, thank you. You just closed three outstanding bets and made me five pounds of pure greathiyulium alloy in my perfect shade," she said when Nathaniel glanced at her. "I'd rather find out exactly why and when you two hooked up than think about this awfulness any longer, so let's talk about that on the ride back instead." 

Aaron's gaze bounced from Allison to Nathaniel to Andrew. He was waiting for them to shoot her down, Nathaniel thought, and his expression went slack when neither one of them did. Nicky opened his mouth, then closed it again without a word and stared at Nathaniel. Kevin, surprisingly, didn't react at all. Maybe because only another cyborg could truly understand what it was Nathaniel was going through. The Moriyamas didn't just have one single core, after all. His mother had only stolen one, and both Kevin and Jean were Riko's pets. 

Nathaniel didn't have the energy to confirm or deny anything right now, so he just looked at Andrew and asked, "Ready?" 

"Waiting on you," Andrew reminded him. 

"I didn't invite him," Browning said. 

"Trust me," Wymack said. "You'll fare a lot better if you take them both."

Browning flicked a calculating look between them and gave in with an impatient, "We're leaving now." 

Wymack moved out of the way to let them pass, but as Nathaniel reached the door, he said, "We'll wait for you, all right? As long as it takes, Neil." 

Nathaniel nodded and stepped out onto the balcony. He and Andrew went down the stairs behind Browning and got into the backseat of the SUV while Browning sat ahead of them and slammed the door. Nathaniel watched until the hotel disappeared out the window, then looked to Andrew and asked in German, "Can I really be Neil again?" 

"I told Neil to stay," Andrew said. "Leave Nathaniel a pile of broken parts and a useless core in the shop back in Baltimore with his evil scientist of a father." 

Nathaniel looked out the window again and wondered if that was possible. He knew in a sense he could never really leave Nathaniel behind. Even if Stuart could talk the Moriyamas down, they'd all know Nathan's child was alive and kicking, standing only by the power of their stolen technology. Nathaniel would always be a security risk to them. But the thought was thrilling and chilling in turns, and Nathaniel turned his hand over to consider his palm. He traced Andrew's key into his skin with a bandaged finger one more time, unable to break the too human habit. "Neil Abram Josten," Neil murmured, and it felt like waking up from a bad dream. 

Neil knew talking to the FBI wasn't going to be easy, but he hadn't expected it to be this strenuous. He spent the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday cooped up with them in their offices explaining as much about his stolen core as he could, more than happy that the only time Andrew and Neil left each other's line of sight was when someone came by to check Neil's wounds or replace his more vital mechanical parts with newer or better matching sets. 

The two of them were never left alone together, though, and that had to be the hardest part of all. The agents brought in food for him and fuel packs for Andrew so he wouldn't have to leave the building, escorted them to and from the restroom once they realized they were both fully biologically functioning, and set up cots so he and Andrew could lay side by side as Andrew recharged on a wireless docking station built into his cot, all on-site and under surveillance so they wouldn't transfer data to any outside sources. In exchange for their questionable hospitality, Neil told them everything. 

They started with Lola's phone call in the locker room and went through the shootout at his father's laboratory, where Neil put as many names to faces as he could. Almost as important as who died was who'd survived. Neither Romero nor Jackson had been at the house, and they were full fledged scientists, not just offhanded mechanics who knew where the parts went. They knew how to make more and understood how to make them even better. If the feds couldn't catch those two, cores like the one Neil had tucked away inside his body could be implanted into other humans and they would have a whole new problem with cyborg infested gangs out for revenge. Especially since the world at large had no idea cyborgs were possible. Humans with a few mechanical adjustments, sure. But humans who had an integrated mechanical core pumping nanite infused blood through semi- organic organs and a necha infused brain stem? More than seventy five percent of Nathaniel's body was machine, and he was nearly indistinguishable from an android, with the added benefit of a blurred line between man and machine. It bridged the gap between the two much more than the world was ready for yet. From there they bounced to Neil's childhood and all the terrible things that entailed as he was trained under his talented but clearly evil scientific excuse of a father and prepped to become the perfect model for his new Exy android. 

Then it was on to how he had died, killed by his father's own hands (though Neil would never explain that he had been killed because he didn't live up to the Moriyama's expectations and was a loose end that couldn't be left alive. He also skipped past the fact that Kevin was another human child, body and mind prepped for mechanical additions and already integrated with a top of the line android core capable of infusing his body with nanited that could enhance every cell in his body, even to the point of allowing age and every human biological function under the sun.) He explained how his mother pieced him back together from the hacked remains his father had left him in, threading his small human form together with all of her own mechanical genius and using the stolen core (though he had to repeat over and over he had no idea where it was stolen from, and tactfully left out the explanation that it was supposed to be a special core for the new line of androids made in his aborted image to honor the Moriyama's vision of the future of Exy). 

After they ransacked his memory for everything about his father's people and known heists that robbed the scientific world from hundreds of advancements in both medical as well as mechanical fields, they moved on to Neil's whereabouts for the seven years between Baltimore and Millport. Neil took them step by step through every alias and residence, and even explained how his mother kept upgrading him with better and better parts each time he was hurt until he was more machine than man, the super advanced core making it impossible for them to fail as it pushed nanites through and adapted the parts for his own use but he refused to give up his mother's contacts. 

He pleaded ignorance based on his age and how many nanites had slowly started to take over his brain stem to help him better perform at the time, and after asking him the question twenty different ways the agents eventually gave up. Neil told them where his father's people had caught up with them, the places where Nathan himself had shown up on their heels, and stopped with his mother's death. She was only human, after all, and had only spared enough time and money on upgrading him, not herself. 

They had to acknowledge the Hatfords at one point, but it made for a cagey conversation. The FBI couldn't admit to whatever deals they'd struck and Neil couldn't prove anything. Instead they focused on what Neil knew of Stuart from his youth. Neil didn't have much to offer, but what little he did have became a turning point in how some of the agents viewed him. 

Until that conversation they looked at him and saw only Nathan's son, a soulless piece of flesh temperature metal and mesh in the shape of a human. Finding out he'd chosen a life on the run over a sedentary life as nothing more than a tool to be used by another crime family earned him points with more than one fed. 

Twice on Sunday they brought up the secure research facility again, but Neil refused both times. He was giving them everything they needed to build a case and he was willing to testify if they could get any of Nathan's people on the stands. Until then he wanted to stay as he was. If they enrolled him against his will he'd simply slip his leash and go back to Palmetto State Garage. Andrew said the Foxes would never let Neil disappear quietly. They'd raise a fuss and get the press neck-deep in it until someone turned him up. 

The agents called them selfish and reckless, but Neil and Andrew held their ground. Neil didn't know they'd won the argument until Browning slapped a couple applications on the table in front of him. The first was an official name change request, the second and third were for a passport and driver's license, and the last was for a reissued social security card due to the first. A picture Neil only dimly recognized was held to the second with a paperclip; it was a mug shot Wymack had taken of him last summer for his Exy file. In it he still had brown hair and eyes, and his face was free of Riko's tattoo. Despite the picture, the application was half-filled out already and indicated his natural eye color as blue. Neil guessed the picture would shrink to where no one would really notice the discrepancy. 

He was so distracted by the picture it took him a moment to understand the significance of what he'd been handed. Across the top of every page was the name Neil Josten and just under that was the racial designation Android. All Neil had to do was sign the dotted lines. 

"Consider this a contract with us," Browning said, sounding as peeved as always. He waited for Neil to look up at him before continuing. "Once you sign this, we start the process to instate 'Neil Josten' as a valid and functioning member of android society. That means no more running and no more fake IDs. You will be an android built only in the image of Nathaniel Wesninski, complete with a transferred memory bank and nothing more. You are going to have keep each of your parts up to governmental standards and you'll be accountable for your own legality and patent. You will be Neil from now until death. Androids were granted legal Autonomy years ago, so you will never be taken advantage of as just a carrier for parts anymore. However. You are not allowed to change your mind. You so much as order a gear or ghibli under a pseudonym and we are going to have a serious problem." 

"Pen," Neil said, holding out his hand. When Browning didn't move fast enough, he said, "I get it. Just give me a pen so I can sign it." Browning tossed it onto the table. Andrew caught it before it could roll off the edge and passed it over. Neil scribbled his name along every dotted line and handed the stack back. Browning passed them off to someone else and considered the file-strewn table. "Then, you're Neil until the Exy court really does succeed in tearing you apart. We're done here," Browning said. "If we think of anything else, we'll let you know." 

"I'm sure you will." Neil got to his feet and stretched out the day's kinks, glad he didn't hear any creaking from his mechanical parts even though he knew he wouldn't. His mother had made sure he was equipped with the best of the best, and he was as indistinguishable from any top notch android, including specialized joint cushions for any replaced limb he had. The conference room they'd taken over was windowless, but the clock on the wall said it was half past nine. They'd been in here for almost thirteen hours. The day had felt long as it dragged by, but knowing how many hours he'd lost pushed him one step past exhausted to drained. 

He carefully scrubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes and choked down a yawn. "Stetson will give you a lift," Browning said when Neil dropped his hands to his sides. Stetson was a humorless android they'd seen occasionally throughout the day. Neil didn't mind him half as much as he did Browning because Stetson hadn't said a single word to them. Maybe he couldn't. Maybe he didn't have a voice box. The end of the interrogation wasn't reason enough to break that silence, it seemed. He collected them with a glance and brought them to his car. 

Neil sat in the backseat with Andrew and toyed with the bandages on his face. Andrew popped the back of his head when he realized what Neil was doing and ignored Neil's scowl in favor of holding the offending hand down with his own. Stetson walked them upstairs to the hotel room, but the Foxes had spread out in their absence. Having to stay a night meant they'd needed to acquire enough beds for everyone. 

This room with its two queen beds now housed only Abby and Wymack. Wymack looked from Neil to Andrew, then turned his attention on Stetson. "Giving me a ride to the bus?" he asked. He waited for a nod, then motioned for Andrew and Neil to make themselves at home. "I'll be right back. Figure out if we're staying or going." He closed the door behind himself. 

Neil listened through the wood for the faint sound of footsteps on stairs, then locked the door and pulled the chain. Abby sat in the middle of one of the beds, and she held out both hands to Neil when he turned away from the door. "Let me take a look at you." Neil couldn't crawl across the bed to her with the damage to his still too human legs without disabling his pain sensors or shove himself across with his hands, so he toed out of his shoes and stepped up onto the bed instead. 

He took a couple unsteady steps over to her, noting that he would have to take the time later to recalibrate his balance, and sat before he could fall. The mattress shifted as Andrew took up post behind him. Neil put down his bag of medicine where Abby could get to the antibiotics for his human parts if necessary, but she had the Foxes' unusually well-stocked first aid kit right beside her tool box on her night stand. He wondered if she had spent all the time they were being interrogated looking up human first aide kits or if she had brought it with her just in case she had to use it on herself or Wymack. 

She leaned over to get them, put them down at her side, and reached for the bandages on his face. Even if the flesh there was synthetic it was hell to get tiny grains of dirt and dust out of those fibers just like it was to clean a human wound. And just like human wounds, it was dangerous to leave even the tiniest grain behind unless it rubbed at and destroyed the space between each layer of dermis. As a mechanic for the androids, she knew this better than anyone, and worked in studied silence. She didn't need to say anything when her expression said enough. When she was finished she started unwrapping the bandages from Neil's right arm. Andrew shifted closer at that, as he still hadn't gotten a look at Neil's uncovered arms, but Neil kept his eyes on Abby. 

Grief and outrage warred for dominance on Abby's face, but she held her tongue until she made it to Neil's hand. She swallowed hard. "Oh my god, Neil." 

Neil finally risked a look down at his arm. His skin was striped with parallel lines that were black from bloody scabs but not quite deep enough to need stitches. Lola had filled the gaps between them with shallow burns, perfect circles leading from his elbow to an inch shy of his wrist. He'd torn his wrists open on the handcuffs in a way that couldn't yet scab since his arms had been mostly human besides the nanite blood and enhanced muscle underneath them; the skin was carved out in a shallow line along the scars Riko had given him a few months ago. 

Dark bruises made a thick band around his wrist and stretched up onto his thumb, turning green halfway up as the artificial digit staked its claim. His knuckles were burnt so badly Neil had to flex his fingers and make sure they worked only a couple of those were artificial after all and he didn't want to have to replace them. For a half-second he was back in that car with Lola's knife on his skin and nowhere to go but six feet under. 

Neil didn't know what sound he made but Andrew's fingers were a sudden and unforgiving weight on the back of his neck. Somehow, feeling those firm fingers against the fake charging port drew him back. Andrew pushed him forward and held him down. Neil tried to breathe but his chest was as tight as a rubber band ready to snap. 

"It's over," Abby said as she gently combed her fingers through his hair. "It's over. You're going to be okay. We've got you." 

Neil breathed with his too human lungs, too fast to do him any good. He flexed his fingers again, then clenched them, knowing he was splitting the scabs open, knowing he was pulling at burned flesh trying so hard to heal, but needing to know he still had a grip. He needed to know that his father and Riko had both lost, that he could walk away from this and step back onto the court as Neil Josten, an android. For a moment that single-mindedness was enough to startle a bit of clarity into him, and Neil was desperately grateful he didn't have the breath to laugh. He knew how panicked it would sound. 

"Stop it," Andrew said, like it was really that simple. It wasn't, but Neil's tangled mix of anger and exasperation was enough to put a hiccup in his gasping. That catch disrupted the frantic pace enough that Neil managed a real breath. He sucked in a second one as deep as he could, then a third as slowly as he could stomach it. His insides were still quaking by the time he got a sixth, but he was off that ledge and safe in their hands and Neil didn't care if he felt two seconds from getting violently ill. 

He went limp and let Andrew pull him back upright. Looking at him was safer than facing the damage again, so Neil studied Andrew's profile and let Abby work. She was halfway done with his left arm when Wymack returned. Andrew had to get up to let him in, but he came right back, a solid, secure comfort. 

Wymack stood between the beds to survey the mess. His expression was unreadable, but his half-lidded eyes were dark, and Neil knew how to read the anger in every inch of an older man's frame. Neil made another fist, a silent promise that his hands were still in working order. It did nothing to take the tension from Wymack's shoulders. 

"Are we spending the night here?" Wymack asked. 

"I hate Baltimore," Neil said. "Can we go?" 

Wymack nodded and looked to Abby. "How much longer do you need?" 

"Ten minutes, maybe," Abby said. "We'll be done by the time everyone's checked out and on the bus." 

"I'll round them up," Wymack said, then paused before promising, "They won't bother you until we're back on campus." 

"I promised them answers," Neil said. 

"The bus isn't set up for a conversation like this. Even two to a row they'd be too spaced out to hear you easy, and I don't want to force Abby to recalibrate everyone's auditory sensors when they inevitably fuck them up fiddling around with them. The locker room has a better setup. Nap back to the stadium and deal with them in familiar territory."

"My room key's on the dresser," Abby said to Wymack. Wymack plucked it up, grabbed his paperwork, and left to get the Foxes. Abby finished cleaning and rewrapping Neil's arms, and Neil and Andrew waited while she repacked her bags. Neil swallowed some painkillers dry before handing her his medicine for the ride back. The team hadn't come to Baltimore with much, just what they'd needed for the game in New York, but Neil checked every drawer to make sure nothing was left behind anyway. 

The bus was waiting for them downstairs, door open and overhead lights on. Matt was putting the last gear bag in the storage compartment as they approached. "I dropped my gear in New York," Neil said. 

"Andrew found it while he was looking for you," Abby said. "Your bag was four gates down by the time the police broke things up. Everything's a bit worse for the wear, but at least it's all accounted for." 

Matt slammed the doors closed, tugged the handles to make sure the locks caught, and gave Neil a once-over. "Hey," he said. "Coach made us promise to leave you alone, but are you okay?" 

"No," Neil said, "but I think I will be." He stepped up into the bus and found the Foxes sitting one to a row. They usually left space between the upperclassmen and Andrew's group, but tonight Nicky, Aaron, and Kevin had settled in directly behind their older teammates. Neil would have taken the cushion behind Kevin, except Andrew headed for his usual seat in the far back and Neil realized it for the database it was. Neil followed him back and sat in front of Andrew, leaving a two-seat gap between him and the rest of the Foxes. 

Getting comfortable was almost impossible thanks to the injuries on his face. They were so deep that they hurt even past the mesh barrier, and he was sure he could feel the throbbing all the way down his spine whenever they were touched. He had to sleep on his back, but the seat wasn't long enough for him to completely stretch out so he had to lay with his legs over the side, in the aisle. His thoughts kept him up most of the night as well, an ugly reminder that even if he was human, his sleep mode was much less reliable than the android's ability to recharge and temporarily shut down. managed to doze off occasionally. Those stolen snatches of rest did almost more harm than good, but something was better than nothing. 

Neil knew they were getting close when Wymack parked the bus outside a gas station. It took three Foxes to carry back enough coffees for everyone (because even androids could process caffeine and those with working taste buds enjoyed it just as much as the rest), and they didn't bother to pass the cups out. A couple minutes later the Foxhole Court rolled into view outside Neil's window. The sight of it was a much-needed jolt of adrenaline. Neil trailed bandaged knuckles along the cold window. 

"Neil Josten," he mouthed. "Number ten, starting striker, Foxhole Court." Even if the Moriyamas rejected Stuart's truce and came after him, the process had begun. Neil Josten was in the system to become a real person- an android. He wouldn't die a human lie. Wymack killed the engine, and Neil painstakingly sat up. 

The Foxes filed off the bus and divvied up their gear, each aiming for their lockers to stow it away. Neil looked for his bag and found it slung over Matt's shoulder. He tried to take a tray of coffee instead, but Dan sent his wrapped hands a pointed look and ignored his silent offer before they all started to trail inside and settled down in the lounge. Dan, Renee, and Allison handed out drinks as they got settled, Dan coming around to Neil first and only moving away when she was sure he had a good trip on the cup despite his bandages.

Wymack had filled a plastic bag with snack foods when they stopped, everything from powdered doughnuts to chips, and he upended it on the table for everyone to dig through. Sustaining or not, they tasted good and gave their hands something to do. Nicky pulled a nanite bar from the mix and passed it to Neil. Neil tried pulling the foil wrapper of his own open and hissed through clenched teeth at the burn in his knuckles. Andrew took the bar from him, ripped it open in one easy swipe, and dumped it in Neil's waiting hands. 

Kevin leaned forward to look past Andrew at Neil. He spoke in low but urgent French and said, "We need to talk about this." 

"We're going to," Neil said. 

"This," Kevin said, with emphasis, and touched his tattoo. 

"Not now," Neil said. "Later."

"Neil." 

"I said no." 

Andrew couldn't understand them, but he understood the edge in Neil's voice. He put a hand on Kevin's shoulder and shoved him back. Kevin opened his mouth to argue but caught himself. He pressed a careful hand to his mottled throat and looked away. If Andrew decided to choke him again, he really would die, not just shut down. He was just as half human as Neil was. 

Wymack was the last to sit down, and suddenly Neil was the center of attention again. He looked around the room at them and said uncertainly, "I don't know where to start." 

"The beginning?" Dan suggested. 

They were less interested in his father than they were in Neil himself, and they didn't yet need or want the level of details he'd given the FBI. Kevin had shared some of the truth on the drive from New York to Maryland, but Neil didn't know what all he'd told them. Chances were Neil was repeating a detail or two, but no one stopped him. They wanted the whole truth, and he gave it to them as wholly as he could. He told them who his parents were both officially and in reality, complete with details about how his mother helped create the special core in his chest and modified most of the breaking new android technology she had upgraded him with after lifting them on the run. He admitted that he'd played little league Exy when he was younger for a couple years under a different name and in a different position.

That was the only Exy league humans could play, but because Exy was a sport only for Androids in the higher leagues, lots of talented young players got into the game at the younger levels so that they could be used as models for Ext androids in the future. If you were good enough as a child, you were given the opportunity to physically train and model with special Exy companies while they recorded your data through adulthood, using the complete version for the latest and greatest androids years later, once you hit your peak. They pay was awesome, and lasted for years, and if you ended up one of the best of the best, your Android model could be used for professional Exy leagues and given a patent. Your face would be immortalized and your skills would be added to your company's arsenal to build the most perfect Exy player ever! 

He told them about his mother's abrupt decision to run away after using the stolen technology to put his nearly dead body back together, the terrible eight years on the run, and the confrontation that ended with his mother's death. He told them how he ended up in Millport playing for a rag tag Exy team full of house, research, and specialty androids with no hope of real futures in the game and why he tried out for the Exy team there. He told them why he'd risked everything to come here, what it'd meant when he found the Moriyamas weren't just his father's scientific colleagues but a whole family of pharmaceutical tycoons investing in research to bridge the gap between humans and machines who had bought out his father's entire business and owned all of his patents under the guise of simple investors, and how many times he'd thought about running away before he cut things too close. 

He swore he hadn't known until the fall banquet who his father really was to the Moriyamas and that the stolen core he needed to survive was made specifically for them- that even now he only dimly understood the intricate hierarchy between the Moriyama branches and the Wesninski circle. He knew less how his uncle was supposed to fit in there, just that his family really did have to do with modern human medicines and often straddled the lines between corporate ninjas and all an all out gang in their tenacity for progression in their field. He told them how he'd intended to end the year turning himself in to the government and telling them everything he could about his father's business before letting them dissect him and take the core for study, how he'd hoped to at least make it through championships and one last rematch with Riko, who had been the Moriyama's prized android built from the ground up with all their own technology, but how he'd realized months ago he wasn't going to be back the following year. 

It was the answer they probably deserved the most, because that fatalistic decision had colored every other interaction with them and fueled his determination to not let them get too close to him. He wasn't an android, and he knew he would die sooner or later, where as they could live however long they wanted as long as they kept their parts upgraded and didn't shut themselves down. They listened to it all without interruption and sat in silence for a long time afterward. 

The eventual questions were inevitable, and Neil answered everything they asked him. They seemed startled at first by the honesty, no matter the story that had come before it, and were emboldened by his unhesitating responses. Renee said nothing until everyone else's curiosity had been temporarily assuaged, then somehow made a dire what-if sound almost kind, something even a human would envy, though by now Neil knew it was useless to compare the two. Science had advanced much too far. 'Humanity' wasn't something to separate man from machine anymore. It was just a defining trait of one's personality. "You said your uncle is negotiating a truce with Kengo. What if he can't?" 

Neil didn't waste their time softening his response. "They will get rid of me." 

"You're not serious," Matt said, alarmed. 

"I am a loose end," Neil said, "dangerous enough on a good day and unforgivable when Kengo is dying. The Moriyamas can't afford leaks in their empire when they're about to shift that much power around. Especially not from a dead boy. Even if they don't need the core anymore and could easily build better, more efficient models with the scientists they have on hand. They won't let me live." 

"When will you know?" Dan asked. 

"Uncle Stuart said he would get in touch with me when he was done sorting things out." 

"Don't worry," Nicky said, with a failed attempt at cheer. "Andrew will protect you." 

Kevin flicked him a horrified look. "These are the Moriyamas, Nicky. This is not Riko and the master; this is not Neil's father. Andrew can't—" 

"I know," Nicky cut in, irritated. "Just shut up." 

They fell to uncomfortable silence. Wymack looked between them, then said, "One more thing: if the press hasn't caught on yet about who your father was, it's inevitable that they will. Browning told me the steps they were taking to hide your name, but if anyone followed them from the hospital to the hotel they'll put it together and assume you're an android model of that man's son. It doesn't matter that the bus wasn't on-site; if they saw any of us changing rooms they'll follow us to you. "You looking like this," he motioned up at his own face, "will be all the answer they need. The FBI can ask them to take your safety into consideration before they start running articles, but since you revoked their protection I don't know how much weight their word carries. Figure out as soon as you can how far you'll let them push and where you want us to draw the line." 

"It's generally best to give them the answers they want," Allison said. "If you satisfy their curiosity they won't have to resort to more forceful methods. Besides, the press serves the fickle mind of public interest. They can't focus on you for long. Something else will distract them if you tell them that truth right out the gate." 

"General public, maybe," Dan said, "but Exy fans'll remember long after everyone else has moved on. They're going to drag the other teams into this and let them say whatever they like about you. It's going to be our freshman year all over again, but worse." 

"Unless we find something they want more than a piece of me," Neil said. 

"Like what?" Matt asked. "It's kind of a hard story to top." 

Neil leaned forward and slanted a look at Kevin. He answered in French, "They won't care half as much about my father when they find out who yours is. Tell coach the truth- that you're a cyborg like me and weren't killed in the same accident that killed your mother. Then tell the press that you were an android built in that boys image, and coach was his father. Android or not, they'll eat up that familial connection. That pedigree will mean that your model was always meant to be the best of the best and his data could only ever have produced such a great android. You'll always be bigger news than I am to them." 

Kevin's mouth thinned to a disapproving line. "It's not time." 

"Make it the time. I need your help, and you should have told him years ago," Neil accused him. When Kevin didn't answer, Neil interpreted it as the reluctant agreement he wanted. 

He straightened and went back to English. "We're going to split their attention between us. Kevin's going to out his father." 

"Wait, you know who he is?" Nicky asked Kevin, startled. 

"I found out ," Kevin said, an edge in his words. "My mother wrote the master when she found out she was pregnant. I took the letter from his house and hid it at the stadium a few years ago." 

"And I took it from Evermore," Neil said. He shrugged at the startled look Kevin flicked him. "Jean showed me where it was. I stole it so you'd do something about it." 

"So who is it?" Dan asked. 

"I'll contact him before I tell anyone else," Kevin said. "He deserves a forewarning." 

Renee looked to Neil and said, "What do you need from us, Neil?" 

It didn't take much thought. "Everything I needed, you already gave me. You let me stay. Human or not, you let me play on the field with you and risk my life however I wanted to play the game… you stood by me when the scientists came for me, and didn't budge when the authorities demanded severance." Renee's smile was slow and sweet. 

Dan got up and crossed the room to give Neil a careful hug. She didn't hold him like Abby once had, like she thought he might fall apart into a pile of gears and wires without her support. There was a muted ferocity in the fingers that bit into his arms and he could feel the tension in her body where she leaned against him. This wasn't comfort; it was something protective and defiant. She was staking claim over him as one of her team. Somehow it was enough to ease the last of the day's stresses out of him. 

That much-needed peace only made Neil realize how exhausted he still was, and he barely managed to swallow a yawn. Dan let go and took a step back when Neil finally relaxed. "Come on. It's been a long day and I'm ready to see it over with. Let's sleep this off and figure out in the morning where to go from here. Maybe we'll all get breakfast or something. All right?" 

"All right," Neil agreed, and the Foxes got to their feet. Abby handed him his medicine. "Let me check on you again tomorrow, but be careful washing, okay? You need to get the dirt off both human and android parts but if your human parts get wet, it could cause trouble and im still not sure which of the wounds to your android parts are deep enough to get down to the mesh. Until I know how your human muscles interact with your artificial ones it's better safe than sorry. Wrap your arms if you can until the nanites in your stream can build up another layer of skin. If you get soap in those burns it's going to hurt." 

Neil nodded, looked to Wymack one last time, and followed his teammates out. Their cars were still in the parking lot where they'd left them a couple days ago. Andrew popped the locks on his car and Nicky opened the passenger door for Neil. Neil climbed in and didn't bother struggling with the buckle. As soon as his limbs were out of the way, Nicky slammed the door and got in back. 

The upperclassmen piled into Matt's truck and Matt pulled out after Andrew. It was the middle of the night, but there was usually still something going on around campus. Today the grounds were dead, and it took Neil a moment to remember it was spring break. Understanding was quickly followed by a flicker of guilt; the others had had plans to fly out on Sunday morning. They'd missed their flights to stay in Baltimore with him. 

He asked Dan about it when they met up again at Fox Tower, but she waved it off as unimportant. No one talked about it, but somehow they all ended up in Neil and Matt's room. Matt and Aaron shoved the couch out of the way, and the girls showed up a minute later with blankets infused with charging pads for androids. The living room wasn't meant to sleep nine bodies but somehow they made a workable nest out of it. Foxes came and went as they grabbed pillows and changed into pajamas. For a moment, though, Neil and Matt were alone. 

Matt gave Neil's shoulder a careful squeeze. "Things could have gone much worse," Matt said, subdued. "I'm glad they didn't. You want anything, you need anything, you let us know. Okay?" 

"Okay," Neil said. 

"I mean it," Matt stressed. 

"I know," Neil said. "I'm done lying to you, Matt. I promise."

Matt sighed, but he sounded more tired than skeptical. "Wish it didn't take all of this to get that, but I guess I understand. A lot of things about you make sense now, actually. With one notable exception," Matt added dryly, "but I'm going to let Allison handle that conversation. She'll kill me if I steal her thunder." 

"Great," Neil said. Matt grinned at his unenthusiastic tone. Neil thought maybe he was better off not knowing, but he asked, "Does that mean you bet against it?" 

"I bet for you and against him," Matt said, and shrugged at Neil's surprised look. 

"I'm your roommate. You never talked about girls, even back when Seth and I would go on and on about them. I noticed, but I figured you'd say something if you wanted us to know. Android or not, we noticed the top of the line additions you had and there was no way you didn't have the best of the best nervous system as well, we figured. Unless you personally opted out of sexual functions, that was the only option. Just so you know, it makes no difference to me either way," Matt said, "except I would have seriously judged your taste a couple days ago." 

Neil assumed Andrew's territorial streak in Baltimore had a lot to do with Matt's change of heart. "Did he really choke Kevin?" 

"Took three of us to pull him off," Matt said. Neil didn't know what to say to that. Andrew knew Kevin was cyborg, and so did the rest of the team. If he had seriously tried to kill the same person he had sworn to protect… all for Neil… Matt gave him a minute, then clapped his shoulder and went to get changed. 

Neil thought about getting undressed, decided it would take far too much effort, and sat down on his blankets to wait on the rest of the Foxes. He ended up in the dead center of the room, with Andrew on one side of him and Matt on the other. His thoughts should have kept him up all night, but with his friends this close Neil couldn't worry about anything. He studied Andrew's face until he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore, then dreamed of facing his father on an Exy court, and in his dream the Foxes won. 

~~~~~

When Neil next woke up, it was with Andrew tucked up against his side, but not touching him. A blanket was tucked up between them, still warm from the overnight charging, and shifted when Neil did, jerking Andrew's eyes open. One arm was already cocked back for a blow, while his free hand was locked around Neil's throat. He blinked slowly, regaining his balance and waking to see Neil was the one beside him. The others who were awake paused, glancing over at them but not moving to break them up. When Andrew lowered his raised fist, though, it was with an open hand that brushed gentle fingers over Neil's cheek only once before the blond pulled away and got up.

The Foxes dispersed to get ready, carrying blankets and pillows with them out of the room. Kevin was the only one who stayed behind. Neil knew why, but he was still too tired for this conversation. He struggled to his feet and trailed Matt to the kitchen with his bag of medicine. They'd be eating in an hour, but apparently that was too long to wait for coffee. Matt rinsed the pot in the sink and started filling it. Neil lifted a cup down from the cabinet and shook his medicine out of the bag. There he stopped, because he could only imagine how much it'd hurt his fingers to unscrew that child-safety cap. He looked around for something to make it easier and saw Kevin waiting in the doorway. 

Kevin glanced from Neil to Matt and spoke in French. "When Riko finds out what your father did to your face, he will retaliate." 

By now Matt was used to them jabbering away in foreign languages around him. He gave no sign he heard them or cared what they were saying but pulled coffee beans and filters down from the cabinet. Neil warred with himself, feeling like his nonexistent heart was tripping and skipping with unjustified nerves. He studied Matt's profile until Matt cut the grinder off, then looked past him to Kevin. 

"Can he do anything about it, though?" Neil asked in English. Matt froze with the filter halfway to the coffee maker. In the doorway, Kevin tensed up in incomprehension or disapproval. Neil felt Matt's eyes on him but didn't return the look. Just last night he'd said he was done lying to Matt. He couldn't expect Matt to believe him if he talked behind Matt's back today. The upperclassmen knew the whole story now, anyway, so there was no reason to hide this inevitable complication. 

"By now Kengo knows my father's dead and I'm alive with his technology. Worse, he knows the FBI has already talked to me. He has to make a decision on me one way or the other. Will Riko risk making the first move?" 

Kevin flicked a cool look at Matt but obediently brought the conversation back to English. "They touched what they never should have. By erasing your tattoo- your product number- they've swept him aside as insignificant. Riko won't tolerate that." Kevin lifted his left hand as a prime example of Riko's violent inferiority complex. "If he thinks he can sneak past his father to get you, he will." 

"Let him try," Neil said. "He knows where he can find me." 

"Your false bravado helps no one." 

"Neither does your cowardice," Neil pointed out. "I was only afraid of Riko because he knew who I was. What can he hold against me now that everyone knows the truth?" Neil gave Kevin a moment to digest that then said, "Andrew says the Ravens have to let this feud play out this spring, so Riko can't even come after the rest of you yet. They might kick and fuss a bit but you're safe from them for now." 

"You believe him?" Matt asked. Neil shrugged. 

"Tetsuji calmed their crazy fans down by saying the Ravens would handle us on the court. He has to deliver, so yeah, I believe Andrew. But hey, since Riko's hands are tied," Neil said, glancing back at Kevin, "now's a perfect time to take that off your face." 

It took Kevin a moment to catch on, and he jerked like he'd been struck. "Don't even joke like that." 

"I'm not joking. Allison said she'd spot me the cash to take mine off. Maybe she'll do the same for you now that I don't need her help. You don't have any protocols in place to stunt your autonomy, Kevin. You're a free android. They dropped your contract and can't do a damn thing about it." 

"No question," Matt said. "She loves a good scandal." 

"Stop," Kevin said. "Shut up." 

"You're supposed to be done being second-best," Neil said. "Prove it." 

Kevin made a cutting gesture at him and stormed out. He didn't bother closing the door behind him, and Neil understood when Andrew wandered in a second later. What he couldn't understand was why the blond brought a roll of duct tape and some garbage bags with him and went past the kitchenette to sit on Neil's blankets. Neil closed the bedroom door and went to join him in the living room either way, though, sure he would explain. 

Andrew waited until he was seated before lifting the bottom edge of Neil's hoodie. He raised it an inch or two, then checked another spot, and finally poked his hand up under the edge. At first Neil was confused, and just sat to let Andrew do whatever it was he wanted. It wasn't like it hurt, and the anticipation of Andrews fingers on his skin reminded Neil of the bated breath he had held just after their first kiss. Matt was still in the dorm, though, so he didn't dare try to act on his own assumptions.

"I don't have a shirt on under this," Neil said after another moment, voice low and just for Andrew. He accepted that in silence and settled down to wait. Neil held a bandaged hand out for the tape and bags, thinking thst maybe he should do something with them on his own, but Andrew gazed into space and ignored him. Matt finished up in the kitchen and went past them. When the bathroom door was closed behind him and the shower cut on, Andrew motioned to Neil's hoodie again. 

Neil tried not to wince as he popped the buttons undone. He got the shirt as far as his elbows before he had to take a breather and rest his aching hands. Andrew gave him only a second to recover before peeling the sleeves off his arms one at a time. Then, he pulled a garbage bag over each arm, tore the excess edges off, and taped the jagged ends to Neil's biceps. He tugged at both bags to check for any give and added another layer of tape to be sure. 

When Neil's arms were good, Andrew started on his face. He picked up one of the plastic ends he'd torn off, folded it over and over in on itself, and taped it over one of Neil's cheeks like a shiny black bandage. Neil was pretty sure Andrew put more tape than plastic on Neil's face, but Neil wasn't going to complain. Not when it was clear Andrew was doing this to help. Andrew finished his other cheek and inspected his handiwork. Neil guessed he was satisfied with the end result because Andrew tossed the scissors and roll of tape off to one side. Andrew tugged the blanket out from under them and draped it over Neil's shoulders like a cape. Neil tried pulling the ends together over his chest but couldn't get a good grip with bags over his fingers. Andrew watched him try twice, then pushed his hands aside and did it for him. Then there was nothing to do but wait until Matt was done. 

Matt went from the bathroom to the bedroom without slowing and dressed in record time. Instead of detouring back to the bathroom sink to fix his hair into its usual gelled spikes, he carried a comb into the living room and looked between them. Neil glanced his way, but Andrew didn't acknowledge their audience. 

"I'm going to see if Dan needs help rescheduling her flight," Matt said. "Come next door when you're ready." 

"Okay," Neil said. When Andrew stood and followed Matt to the door, Neil assumed he was leaving to shower in his own room so got up and headed for the bathroom. He let the blanket drop when he heard the door close, but the subsequent click of the lock was definitely from the inside. 

Curiously, Neil glanced back, curious, but Andrew was standing out of sight. Neil reached for the bathroom light. The bag around his hand stuck to the damp tiles on the wall, making a sound that reminded him too much of California beaches and the smell of burnt flesh. Neil looked at the shower and wondered if he could just skip it. The bags would protect his injuries and bandages, but they'd also make this entire process a hundred times more complicated. 

He hadn't showered since Friday night, though, so he didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. Andrew's bare feet were silent against the carpet, but Neil saw a blur of colors on the fogged-up mirror and turned. Andrew studied his chest with a bored look, but the fingers he pressed to Neil's scars were a heavy and lingering weight, somehow thoughtful and prodding in a way that had nothing to do with the applied pressure. Neil waited to see if he had anything to say, but Andrew hadn't spoken to anyone since they checked out of the hotel in Baltimore. Neil doubted the others had noticed, since Andrew rarely talked to even Kevin or Nicky now that he was sober, but Neil wasn't used to the silent treatment. 

"Hey," Neil said, just to make Andrew look up at him. There was a moment of hesitstion, of staring into eyes that held internal mechanics and zoomed in and out, studying him just as hard as he was. Then, carefully, Neil leaned in to kiss him, needing to know if Andrew would lean away or push him back. Instead Andrew opened his mouth to Neil without hesitation and slid his hand up Neil's chest to his throat, reminding Neil of that morning. 

Kissing hurt his injured cheeks but Neil fought to ignore that twinging pain. It'd only been a couple days since those kisses on the bus but right now it felt like forever ago. A whole lifetime ago. Neil remembered too well what it was like to say goodbye. Now, as heat bubbled up in his chest in a way that had nothing to do with the mechanical heart he now sported, Neil remembered what it was like saying hello again. 

Then, creeping up alongside that pleasant warmth was a hint of Friday's panic and outrage flickered in his chest momentarily, hot enough to burn the air from his lungs. He didn't know what this thing between them was anymore. He didn't know what he wanted or needed it to be. He just knew he had to hold on for as long as he could. 

"You are a mess," Andrew said against Neil's lips. Neil noted the way he sounded almost breathless, and wondered if it was because he was as swept away by that kiss as Neil was or because he was upset somehow 

"What else is new?" He asked, and resisted the urge to lick the taste of his beloved android off his lips as Andrew pulled back and guided Neil out of his way. He turned the shower on and held his hand under the stream to check the temperature. Neil stepped on the hems of his pants to get them started in coming off, but Andrew did most of the work stripping him. It was awkward being naked in front of someone else, his scars and bruises on full display, but the uncomfortable curl in Neil's gut was eased somewhat by the detached way Andrew handled him. Andrew knew these wounds were half human. Understood that while he could easily replace the mesh and quite literally just reskin himself, Andrew bore his signs of secret battle. Half human, but also half machine. And Andrew, for the complete android that he was, did not think less of Nil for it.

Neil stepped into the shower, tensing in preparation for pain, and was relieved when the wraps on his face and arms held. He ducked his head and let the water beat against his skull. It gave him an excuse to close his eyes and find his mental footing. A hand in his hair jarred him from his thoughts and he cracked his eyes open to see Andrew standing in front of him. 

The android hadn't bothered to get undressed aside from stripping his bands and shoes off. Water plastered his black shirt to him, and small streams raced down his temples and over his cheeks to drip off his chin. Neil reached for his face, remembered the bags just in time, and frowned a bit in annoyance. Seeing this, Andrew pushed his hand aside and yanked the shower curtain closed to prevent water from spilling out onto the floor. 

Andrew got Neil's hair washed efficiently, if not gently, but by the time he moved on to Neil's body there was more kissing than cleaning. Neil had no idea when it started- who kissed who first- but he did remember wondering not the first time if Andrew purposely warmed his mouth in preparation for the affection or if it was just part of his unique build. The kisses left a hot trail over Neil's body, hotter than even the shower they stood under and made goosebumps rise on the still human flesh that covered Neil's body. That wasn't to say that whatever part of his form that was android had lost any sensation, though. His mother had always given him the best of the best upgrades, and that meant having top of the line nervous system augmentations. On top of whatever it was his special core did to adapt those additions to his human body, Neil could feel each and every one of Andrew's kisses to each and every inch of his body. 

Then, Andrew made the mistake of turning his face away at one point, so Neil chased water down the side of his neck in an attempt to see if he could feel the same. So many people had assumed Andrew turned off his nervous system responses, but Neil wasn't so sure. When Andrew's fingers clenched convulsively on Neil's sides as a shudder wracked Andrew's frame, Neil knew the facts for sure. It wasn't that Andrew had turned them off- Andrew had them racked up to the max, and that explained so, so much. Andrew tried to recover with a ground-out, "Your neck fetish is not attractive."

"You like it," Neil said, unapologetic as he kept his lips to Andrews neck, feeling the nearly too hot warmth that radiated from beneath his skin. "I like that you like it." He whispered before flicking out his tongue and dragging it across Andrew's pulse with a low moan if his own, all but breathing in the heat. He bit down just then, almost desperate to feel Andrew's desperation in an attempt to prove his point and Andrew turned his head into it with a sharp hiss. 

Neil smiled where Andrew couldn't see it, but maybe Andrew felt the twist of his lips against oversensitive skin, because he tangled his fingers in Neil's hair and pulled his head away with a sharp twist. Andrew put a hand flat against Neil's abdomen and pushed, backing Neil up until he was out of the spray and pressed flat against slick, chilly tile. Standing there, Neil was too aware of the steam building from the shower, the breathless pull of his lungs forcing air from the too humid room while Andrew stared him down. The androids lips were swollen from their kisses, darker as green rose to the surface. His cheeks were all but burning, and his hair had been mussed and flattened again by the spray of water from the shower in such a cycle that Neil nearly drooled with the knowledge he would have to detangle it later. 

The way he took a minacing step towards neil fooled neither of them, then, even when Andrew bit the question into the corner of Neil's jaw. "Yes or no?" 

"It's always yes with you," Neil said. 

"Except when it's no… and you'll tell me when it is," Andrew said. It wasn't a question or even a command. It was a statement of a well known fact. 

Neil put a plastic-wrapped finger to Andrew's chin, guiding his head up for another kiss. "If you have to keep asking because you're afraid my autonomous protocols have been overridden like yours were before… if you're scared of taking away my ability to say no—I'll answer it as many times as you ask. But this is always going to be yes." 

"Don't 'always' me." 

"Don't ask for the truth if you're just going to dilute it." Neil demanded, voice still gentle. 

Andrew clapped his hand over Neil's mouth and glared into his eyes as he caught his breath, then kept it there until going to his knees meant he couldn't reach anymore. Andrew ghosted a kiss across Neil's hip, kissing the scars there with lips that were too soft and too warm before swallowing him whole and nearly melting him into a puddle of pure bliss then and there. Neil caught at Andrew's hair, but his injuries and the plastic bags made it difficult for him to get a good grip. He scrabbled at the wall instead, but it was too slick to offer much leverage and Neil had to concentrate on keeping an even footing more than what his pathetic hands were not capable of. Andrew pinned him against the wall with a hand on his hip, which helped, but Neil still felt like he was falling, the threat of melting a real fear with each passing moment. 

When Andrew actually glanced up at him from below, purposely swallowing over and over as he forced neil deeper and deeper into his mouth, the sounds of Neil's cries echoed off the walls until the blond was forced to pull back and lay more than a dozen too tender kisses everywhere but where it counted. A breathless repetition of 'yes, Andrew, yes' seemed to be the trick to get him to continue, though he did glare up from between Neil's legs as he ran his tongue from base to tip, pausing only to leave a hot, wet open mouthed kiss that had Neil's voice rising again. "Don't fall," Andrew commanded against Neil's too sensitive flesh, his only warning before diving back down to work. 

Neil did fall afterward, albeit in a controlled slide down the wall with legs that shook too hard, gasping for breath and dizzy with burnt-out need. "Do you want—" he started, voice ragged and raw as the sounds of his last scream still echoed off the walls. Andrew kissed him to shut him up, though Neil could feel how breathless he was as well. He grimaced a little at the taste on Andrew's tongue but was happy to burn it away, hungrily using his tongue to scoop it up and swallow it down. Andrew braced himself with a forearm against the wall, keeping a few comfortable inches between their bodies. Now that Neil knew of his oversensitivity, he let Andrew have that gap but crossed his aching arms behind Andrew's head to keep him close nevertheless. 

Neil didn't notice the absence of Andrew's other hand until Andrew's breath caught against his lips, a quiet moan that forced it's way out despite all Andrew did to stop it. It confused Neil for a second, to the point that he was almost stupid enough to pull back and look down. It'd been weeks since kissing Andrew became a regular thing, but every night ended the same: with Andrew getting Neil off and then sending Neil on his way. There was no body to body contact, no touching. He wouldn't even unzip his pants when Neil was still around. Neil didn't know if this break in routine was grudging trust or determination to not let Neil out of sight again, but now that he understood, it made him feel significantly better. It wasn't that Andrew didn't enjoy it- he enjoyed their moments just fine, and even got off on them. But his trauma and sensitivity made it hard to let his guard down- to allow even Neil to make him lose control. 

Neil didn't care if he couldn't touch, though. Right now so long as Andrew stayed, it meant he trusted Neil a little more. Neil hummed something into Andrew's mouth that could have been approval, could have been encouragement, and got a faint growl in response. Neil didn't miss the fact that even that was breathless and the fingers tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck twitched almost desperately. Andrew wasn't amused by Neil's support, but he wasn't annoyed enough to pull away, either. If anything, he gripped tighter and it felt like he was determined to kiss the breath right out of Neil's lungs. The sound of rapid stroking and the heavy wet cloth of andrews shorts slapping against equally wet legs coupled with the nearly too erotic sounds and made Neils head go light again. He never knew Andrew could sound like that, and just the quiet echo of it was enough to allow Neil more than enough fuel for a hundred inappropriate daydreams. Neil held tight until Andrew finally gasped into the kiss, moth open and entire body tensed for entire moments before settling into an almost dangerous tremble, a whimpered defeat following soon after before andrew finally went still. 

Andrew took a couple seconds to catch his breath, then pushed at the wall until Neil obediently dropped his arms and let him go. Andrew rinsed his hand in the spray, turned away from Neil but not hiding the creamy white mess at all before getting to his feet and helping hoist Neil up when he regained complete composure. 

When Neil stepped out of the tub he ended up getting water everywhere despite how he tried to shake off his feet beforehand, and wound his towel around his waist as best he could, grin still plastered shamelessly across his lips. Andrew leaned out of the shower to get the door for him in silent banishment, and he pushed it closed again when Neil was gone, purposely avoiding any and all eye contact in favor of a scowl as if that would hide the blush still in his cheeks. 

Neil lingered just long enough to hear the slap of Andrew's soaked clothes against the floor, then went into the bedroom to air dry. He'd only bought one towel when he moved on-campus last summer, but Matt had some spares for laundry day and Dan's occasional sleepover. Neil pulled a clean one off Matt's closet shelf with a little more effort than he was used to, and hung it on the bathroom doorknob for Andrew to use when he was finally done, careful not to jostle the metal and make it seem like he was trying to get in. After all his secrets had been exposed down to his very core and he had finally managed a tiny step forward, the last thing he ever wanted to do was to take two huge leaps back when it came to Andrew Minyard.


End file.
